Lauren Duncan
Professor of Psychology and William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor
Biography
Lauren Duncan received a doctorate in personality psychology and a graduate certificate in women’s studies from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor’s in economics from the University of Southern California.
She is currently working with Smith students to understand why some people become politically active whereas others remain inactive. Some recent projects include her recently published book that applies psychological theories to understand how Gloria Steinem ’56 became a feminist icon. She is currently working with students to understand performative activism, and situate it into the literature on political development and collective action. Duncan has also worked on feminist and queer activism in the U.S. and in Italy.
Students who want to get involved in Duncan’s research should first take a class with her and should have taken Research Methods.
Duncan’s research interests are based on the following questions:
- What motivates some people to want to change society whereas others want to keep it the same?
- What motivates some people interested in political and social issues to act on their beliefs?
Selected Publications
Gloria Steinem: The Unlikely Development of an American Feminist Icon
Using Group Consciousness Theories to Understand Political Activism
The Psychology of Collective Action (This document is a scanned PDF and is not fully accessible to screen readers. From The Oxford Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology, Second Edition, 2018, Edited by Kay Deaux & Mark Snyder.)
Related Websites
For those interested in pursuing similar professional goals, or in conducting similar lines of research, Duncan recommends the following websites for additional information:
Office Hours
Spring 2026
On sabbatical